USS George Washington CVN-73 by Mike Dillard
Brand: Italeri
 Scale: 1/720
Modeler: Mike Dillard
AddOns: -

Construction

Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are 90,000 tons of United States diplomacy. Throughout recent history, the appearance of a US carrier, always ready on arrival, has often been enough to diffuse an international incident.

My latest project has been an endeavor to convert an Italeri 1/720th scale Nimitz-class kit to represent the USS George Washington, CVN 73 and the ship’s 2004 deployment. My two previous projects, after a near two decade lapse in model building, were WW2 1/700th scale waterline US Navy carriers. I was ready to tackle the big ship, on the small scale.

The George Washington is the sixth Nimitz-class ship and was built for the US Navy by Newport News Shipbuilding, (now Northrop Grumman Newport News,) and was commissioned in July 4, 1992.

Research photos, of the ship during the 2004 deployment were easily obtained from the US Navy Visual News Service’s excellent web site, Navy Newsstand at www.news.navy.mil.

Since there isn’t a kit of the “GW” I chose the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN 71 kit for the project. This kit was advertised to contain ÒnewÓ aircraft. I quickly realized that the kit airplanes, while new, would not be adequate, so I picked up some Fujimi and Pit Road/Skywave modern US Navy aircraft kits. I ordered Gold Medal Models modern carrier photo etch set and dove right in.

I removed the lower hull section, of the new kit, to maintain continuity with my waterline WW2 carriers. I decided to open all the hanger bay and sponson areas on the kit and put in a simple hanger deck, with no bulkheads, etc., just to show a plane, or two, through the now open elevator areas. I put some sections of sheet plastic inside the hull to serve and then used some sheet to provide a backing to the cut out starboard sponson areas, so the light from the hanger openings wouldn’t shine through where it wasn’t supposed to.

I kicked around the idea of drilling out the flight deck pad-eyes since they flight deck tie downs are visible in this scale. While using my Dremel would make the chore rather simple, if time consuming, I decided to follow the LWEA, (Leave Well Enough Alone,) principle. I wasn’t sure I could maintain a good spacing and lineup of the holes, so instead of drilling myself into a corner, I exercised a better part of valor.

One of the things I’ve noticed from many different modelers, is that they often get modern carrier flight decks all wrong. They may do a good job weathering the deck stripes, etc., but all too often the represent the flight deck as a single color! The nonskid surface applied to modern carrier decks is never put on over the entire deck at one time. This relatively black surface fades very quickly in sunlight and so the deck will consist of several different shades of gray often with well defined sharp edges between lighter and darker areas. Even a new carrier, or one fresh from a refit, with freshly painted deck stripes, will have different shaded blocks of nonskid on the deck. Reference photos will bear this out.


Click on the images to enlarge!

I airbrushed the deck with an original coat of Model Master Acryl Gunship Gray, #4752, mixed with some light gray for scale effect. Model Master Acryl offers a Flightdeck Gray, #4234, and I tested that color. Other modelers, working in different scales, etc., may want to test it too, but I found it looked too blue for me. After the darker coat dried I masked a large rectangular area of the deck’s aircraft landing area following some reference photos, and with a lighter mix of the gray paints, airbrushed that section. I repeated the process on a couple of smaller areas. I gloss coated the deck and applied the kit decals, modified to the match photos, I’d chosen. Since there was no kit decals for the bow “73” I took a black set of numbers from a spares box. Using some white stripe decals, I outlined the black numbers on the deck. The numbers were too short and too wide, but were better than the oversized kit decals, which I couldn’t have used anyway. Weathering the black numbers helped to bring the black color closer to the deck’s gray. It was a compromise. The landing area centerline stripes are too orange, but with the amount of weathering I planned to apply, I stuck with the kit stripes. I dull coated the deck and then using washes and dry brushing with, different shades of Gunship Gray again, I blended the colors and weathered the deck in an attempt to come close to the photos.

The Washington’s island is different from the generic Nimitz island supplied in the kit. Using the good Navy reference photos, I did some simple scratch building for the needed changes to the kit’s island. Using some sheet and rod, I extended the needed areas on the aft island and altered the port and starboard sides. I added a few pieces for antenna platforms and used rounded off rod pieces for additional antenna domes forward and aft. I added a simple platform low on the forward side and using a small diameter pencil eraser I created the domed antenna there. I rounded the eraser off by rubbing it on paper, then soaked it in Future floor wax, for several hours so the paint could adhere. Once the GMM railings were added, I counted over 120 parts on the island alone. I combined some black and white “73” decals for the island numbers. Most US Navy carriers have the black “shadow numbers” on their islands, not just stand alone white numbers. Again the decals weren’t entirely accurate, but a compromise was required.

( A hint here to decal manufacturers: You make good stuff for the 1/350th scale carrier builder. Please don’t forget the small scale folks too.)

I ended up buying two more Italeri kits during the model construction. I used a few parts from the John C. Stennis #524 kit and a few domes from the Ronald Reagan kit #5533. This saved me from having to scratch build a couple of weapons sponsons, some antenna domes and extra platforms on the main mast. Later, I still have a post-refueling Nimitz carrier as a future project by bashing these two kits.

The main mast required a few scratch built antenna parts, pieces taken from the Stennis kit, GMM photo etched railings and antenna pieces. I added a few antenna poles cut from a roll of beading wire. The Navy photos again were invaluable showing the extra pieces required and the separate additional mast support on the port forward side of the mast.

 
Click on the images to enlarge!

I added only a couple of details to the radar tower built from the GMM fret.

I chose not to use the PE safety nets around the hull, again going with the LWEA principle. I cut the molded nets from extra flight deck elevators in the Stennis kit and added them to the bow and around the CIWS sponsons where required. I believe their use works, in this scale, and they do match the rest of the nets on the hull. I added the PE railings as needed. I scratchbuilt two other antenna sponsons, one on the fantail and the other on the port side aft, guided by reference photos, and used pencil erasers again for the antenna domes.

My past carrier kits included only 10-12 aircraft on the flight deck, but using that few on a Nimitz-class ship made the deck look too bare. I chose not to make an exact duplication of the aircraft placement from a single 2004 GW cruise photo, but did spot the aircraft using several other photos as a reference. Since decals for the correct CVW 7 squadrons were not available in the numbers and varieties I needed, I used only a few numbers, etc., from the Fujimi and Pit Road/Skywave sheets. It is indeed a testament to a modeler’s skill to apply all the small decals to a 1/700 scale aircraft. But to use aircraft types and squadron markings from planes that never served aboard a particular carrier, in my opinion, is an incorrect thing to do. Since there are never more than 12 US Navy super carriers in service, I believe that is too few a number, to not pay close attention to such details. To build an Atlantic Fleet ship model and then display it with Pacific Fleet aircraft markings, when your project is an attempt to represent the ship at a definite point in its life, doesn’t make much sense. I used a few lines of color, on the F-14 Tomcat tails to represent the VF-11 Red Rippers and VF-143 Pukin’ Dogs. I didn’t apply lots of the low visibility decals to the various aircraft and that is apparent in the close-up photos. Once the model is mounted in a case and is viewed from a normal viewing distance, the markings would be almost invisible. This approach would certainly be incorrect modeling a high visibility 1960s-70s marked air wing though, since all the colorful markings would be visible at scale.

Oops and goofs plagued the model at final assembly.

I’d mounted my first two carriers flat on the base of the display case, without any modeled surf, etc., and wanted to do the same thing this time. When I went to mount the model on the base I discovered the model had bowed. The bow and stern were lower than the model amidships. The curve was slight, but mounting it was a challenge. I’ve since read that this isn’t uncommon with this kit. With my WW2 carriers, I used the kit box and rolled tape to support the model once the major assemblies were joined, so I did the same thing this time. I don’t know if this wasn’t enough support with the much longer modern hull, or the lack of a ballast bar that is included with Hasegawa or Tamiya kits I’d finished previously allowed the hull to curve. Perhaps, I caused the bowing by adding the small sections of hanger deck inside the hull. Anyway, the model had a bow in it. I drilled holes in the case bottom and very gingerly with a pin vise drilled matching holes in the base plate of the model. I passed tube through the base and into the hull plate and secured the model into place without any damage to the masts or antenna posts.

My past two models were rigged with human hair and I wanted to go with it again. It was not to be. My clumsiness in the attempt snapped the main mast and the radar antenna from the after mast in one slip of a knot.



I know every modeler has faced situations like this. I recommend heavy breathing exercises to regain one’s composure. I mounted the mainmast back into position with super glue, and remounted the antenna. The mainmast went on fine, but wouldn’t support any rigging tension. I used some stretched sprue and simulated a few rigging lines. The antenna was a different problem. I could remount it, but I was afraid to rebuild the PE part. So, it sits too short on the top of the tower. I will have to replace it by ordering another GMM fret and rebuilding the whole piece.

I mounted the aircraft to the deck with white glue and figured the model was complete. The modeling fates, though still had one trick left to play on me.

I took the model to the studio for the photo session. I’d done this with previous models without incident. I setup the background and strobes and began the shoot. Things went well until I went to do the close-up series on the aft flight deck. I noticed one of the F-14s on the number 4 elevator had its nose pointing skyward. The white glue joint on the nose gear had let go. I must have jarred it loose turning the model for the various angles during the shoot, I thought. Since I had no glue with me, (note to self: remember to bring white glue to studio next time,) I gently removed the plane from the deck and continued to finish the shoot. I didn’t have time to review all the shots on the digital camera’s LCD screen, nor to give them much of a look with a studio computer, so finished up and headed home. Then I noticed that the Tomcat’s nose was pointed skyward in ALL my overall shots of the model! (Did you catch it on your first look?)

Oh well... Lessons learned.

Building a good representative model of a specific carrier from the Italeri kits isn’t hard at all. With the wonderful help from readily available, up to date photos, it makes an excellent ship project.

 


Click on the images to enlarge!

Photos © 2006 by Mike Dillard

March 21, 2006

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